Did you ever in your life think you'd be reading the following sentence? The fourth season of "The Lucy Show" was a pivotal one.

Pivotal? A lightweight sitcom like "The Lucy Show" had a pivotal season?

Well, the series was broadcast in color for the first time; Vivian Vance had just quit the show; Lucy relocated to California; and Lucy was hired as Mr. Mooney's secretary. Milestones galore!

It's an understatement to say that Lucille Ball's "The Lucy Show" was a far cry from her 1951-57 classic "I Love Lucy" which was, after all, one of TV's two seminal sitcoms along with "The Honeymooners." As a colleague commented, there seemed to be more clapping than actual laughing in an episode of "The Lucy Show" — clapping when a guest star took the stage, clapping when Ball successfully completed a slapstick stunt, clapping when bossypants Theodore J. Mooney (Gale Gordon) shook his jowls while howling: "Mrs. CAR-michael!"

But "The Lucy Show" has its moments, Ball is fearless and adorable, and Season 4 (1965-66) is a lot of fun. For one thing, it's exploding with guest stars. (With the move to California, the plots went showbiz crazy.) Playing themselves are Dean Martin, Bob Crane, Mickey Rooney, Milton Berle, Danny Thomas, Art Linkletter and, in cameos, Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Jimmy Durante and Vince Edwards. Playing fictional characters are Wayne Newton, Mel Tormé, Clint Walker, Jack Cassidy, Jay North and Jan Murray.

Ball filled the loss of Vance with three sidekicks: Joan Blondell as Lucy's partner in man-hunting; Ann Sothern as a destitute countess; and chirpy "I Love Lucy" alum Mary Jane Croft. For her part, Ball would undergo any torture for a laugh, and was still quite attractive at age 54 — albeit, wearing false eyelashes that Lady Gaga would laugh at.

The Crane episode is decidedly creepy, in light of the late "Hogan's Heroes" star's now-infamous offscreen kinky pursuits. Playing himself, Crane picks up Lucy while opening an account at Mr. Mooney's bank, feeding her the line that he prefers "demure" women to Hollywood starlets. Yikes.

Ball and Rooney reprise Charlie Chaplin and Jackie Coogan in a silent bit. (The height difference helps.) In the North episode, an opportunity is missed when the script fails to reference North and Gordon's "Dennis the Menace" past. Fred Mertz himself, Ball's old "I Love Lucy" co-star William Frawley, makes a poignant cameo as a farmhand. (It was Frawley's final appearance; he died four months after the episode aired.)

The best episode — and Ball's favorite of the series' entire six-season run — is "Lucy Dates Dean Martin," in which Martin plays a dual role as himself and his own movie double. When the double must renege on a date with Lucy, the real Martin secretly fills in. The episode has a "Cinderella"-like quality and, unique to the season, zero slapstick stunts. Warning: You may get teary-eyed at the sweet ending.

The DVD extras are surprisingly plentiful. Behind-the-scenes footage of Ball filming with dolphins at Marineland reveals how the old gal suffered for her art. An Arthur Godfrey special has footage of Ball and Gordon rehearsing "Lucy the Robot." Ball performs amazing "Peter Pan"-style flying stunts in a TV special about burlesque. There are also sponsor-specific bumpers, promos, audio rarities, cast bios and photo galleries.

The Venture Bros. Season 4: Vol. 2$19.98, Warner Home Video

Mix episodes of "Jonny Quest," "Scooby Doo," "Space Ghost" and "Thundarr" in a blender, add pages from "The Fantastic Four" and "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and a liberal shake of snarkiness, set blender on puree, and pour yourself a nice, tall glass of Adult Swim's "The Venture Bros."

Directed by Jackson Publick and written by Publick and Doc Hammer, the series explodes with smartly crafted pop-culture references; repeated viewings are required to get them all.

"Season 4: Vol. 2" has Venture twins Hank and Dean graduating high school; they were home-schooled at Venture Industries by their "super-scientist" father Rusty, the namesake of an old Saturday-morning cartoon.

• EPISODE 1: "The Diving Bell vs. the Butter-Glider." Synopsis: The team must be shrunk down, a la the 1966 candy-colored sci-fi "Fantastic Voyage," to enter the bloodstream of ailing Rusty. Quote:"I had to buy this myself online! ... And not everyone here has 'Star Wars' duplicates to sell on eBay. Half these guys weren't even born when 'Empire' came out." — Henchman 21 on the rising cost of body armor

• EPISODE 2: "Pomp and Circuitry." Synopsis: After being force-fed an education while sleeping in special mind-control beds, the boys graduate. Meanwhile, Phantom Limb reattaches, escapes prison and joins forces with former good guy Professor Impossible. Quote:"They're, like, two completely different Batmen!" — Hank on the "Golden Age" Batman vs. the "post-Crisis" Batman (Hank had written "Batman" down twice as a potential occupation on an aptitude test)

• EPISODE 4: "Everybody Comes to Hank's." Synopsis: Hank makes like Sam Spade and uncovers a disturbing secret in slacker Dermott's past. Quote:"I would make Darrin filthy rich, turn Mr. Tate into a donkey, tell Endora to get a life and blind that nosy Mrs. Kravitz." — Orpheus on "the 'Bewitched' question"

• EPISODE 5: "Bright Lights, Dean City." Synopsis: Rusty sees "The Music Man" and decides to write a musical about his boyhood, while Dean unwittingly becomes an intern for supervillains. Quote:"It sounds like we should be headlining the Lilith Festival." — Phantom Limb on the suggestion of Violet Hour as a name for his new supervillain organization Bonus quote:"I thought Manhattan was the epicenter of supervillainy. It looks more like the Island of Misfit Toys out there." — Limb on the quality of applicants

• EPISODE 7: "The Silent Partners." Synopsis: When mysterious vampires known as the Investors kidnap Master Billy Quizzboy, S.P.H.Y.N.X. commandeers a rickety pirate ship and sails to the rescue. Quote:"(It's) Robo-Bo. I got it off the internet. They also make Robo-Starsky, Robo-Crockett and Robo-Fatman." — Scientist Pete White on his clunky new acquisition

• EPISODE 8: "Operation: P.R.O.M." Synopsis: Hank and Dean find that dates hard to come by for their home-school prom. Papa Rusty salts the party with escort-service girls. Quotes: Billy Quizzboy (to Pete White, who is deejaying the prom): "You're playing the Fun Boy Three version of 'Our Lips Are Sealed'?" Pete: "The Go-Go's are a little stale." Billy: "Oh, and Fun Boy Three is springtime fresh?"